Horse
'Horse '''is a short film written and directed by Austin Johnson that premiered on January 14, 2015. The movie was created for Johnson's digital media class and the main cast and crew of consisted of students in the class. The story has a human and horse hybrid facing bullying from his fellow co-workers and boss and trouble at home. A sad walk takes him to an open field and he rethinks his life. The film was submitted to compete in the iVIE Awards in the Humanities category, SoCal Student Film Festival for Achievement in Writing, and California Student Film Festival for Viral Parody in 2015. It will premiere on YouTube within the summer of 2015, after Johnson finishes his senior year of school. Plot A camera leads the viewer through an office where a person with a horse's head is seated, looking at pictures of horses on the Internet. The horse looks back and rushes to close the page. After, he introduces himself as a human-horse hybrid, with a human father and a horse mother, as shown in a picture. He notes that he wishes that he was a centaur, as he would be treated better in the case. At the horse's job in an office building, he meets with his boss to discuss getting better treatment. Outside, the two co-workers that mock him crack jokes and make noises. The boss tries to calm the horse down with nose stroking and a carrot, but the horse angrily refuses. To compensate, the boss agrees. The meeting falls apart, ending with both the boss and the co-workers making different horse puns. The horse sadly walks home but shows his house to the unseen filmmaker and audience. After showing the kitchen, hallway, and living room, he discovers his wife Sheila under the covers with his boss, whose name is Tom. The horse and his wife argue, with her point being she is ashamed of going out in public with a horse husband. Angrily, the horse yells and picks up a vase, but threatens the camera filming him. It is implied the horse gets a divorce from his wife and he wanders into an open grass area where he sees another horse person like him, only feral and wild. The human-like horse waves at the wild horse, who runs away. The main horse then gets on all fours and chews some grass and then runs for a short period. Reaching the top of the grass, he then neighs a few times before an empowering and lengthy neigh at the end. The horse reflects on what he experienced, but is in a state of conflict. He has a steady job and a family, as well as a life in the human world, but notes he felt alive for the first time in his life. After some thought, the horse quits his job and steps out on the street, remembering all of the previous events. Running back up the hill, the horse takes off his shoes and tie, looks back, and says he is finally free before running away. Production The film was assigned as a final project for Johnson's digital media class for the first semester of senior year. Johnson originally intended to make his Wolf of Wall Street ''parody, but with a lack of actors, time, and resources, he went with another idea. ''Horse ''had its story treatment, script, and storyboards done within a day and actors were selected from the class and school. It primarily had a crew of about three, Austin, Riley, and Patrick, with each collaborating on their respective movies. The horse mask was supplied by Patrick and the film had a low budget. Filming began on December 29, with the meeting room scenes shot at Austin's house and completed in about an hour. The scenes where the horse sits at stairsteps and walks past trees were also shot quickly. Most of the film was shot on January 2 at Patrick's house, including scenes taking place at the house and in the wild. It was filmed entirely over winter break and editing began immediately once they all returned to school to finish their finals. It was edited with Final Cut Pro and featured music from the website KillerTracks. It was completed around January 12. Release The movie premiered in Johnson's digital media class on January 14, 2015. It was then submitted to the Innovative Video in Education (iVIE) Awards that take place on April 25, the SoCal Student Film Festival for May 2, and the California Student Media Festival for June 6. The movie will premiere online within the summer of 2015. External links Category:Movies Category:Austin Johnson